The Gauss maps of transversally complex submanifolds of a quaternion projective space (Q2234533)

The tangent spaces of a quaternionic manifold \((M,\mathcal Q)\) carry a two-sphere of complex structures, given by the unit sphere in the fiber of the three-dimensional bundle \(\mathcal Q\subset \operatorname{End} TM\), which carries a canonical bundle metric. Though \(\mathcal Q\) generally does not admit any global sections, it frequently happens that its restriction to a submanifold \(N\subset M\) does admit a section \(I\), which we may take to satisfy \(I^2=-\mathrm{id}_{TM|_N}\) by normalizing. If \(I\) preserves \(TN\subset TM|_N\), we may call \(N\) an almost complex submanifold of \((M,\mathcal Q)\). \par Now further suppose that for each point \(p\in N\) and each \(J_p\in I_p^\perp\subset \mathcal Q_p\) we have \(T_pN\cap J_p T_pN=\{0\}\). Then it turns out that the almost complex structure \(I\) on \(N\) is automatically integrable and \(N\) is called a transversally complex submanifold of \(M\). Moreover, the subbundle \(T^\perp N\subset TM|_N\), given pointwise by \(T^\perp_pN=J_p T_pN\) for any \(J_p\in I_p^\perp\) does not depend on the choice of \(J_p\). In this article, which unfortunately seems not to be freely available online, the author studies half-dimensional, transversally complex submanifolds of \(\mathbb H\mathrm P^n\), with particular focus on generalizing certain results from the research monograph ``Conformal geometry of surfaces in \(S^4\) and quaternions'' of \textit{F. E. Burstall} et al. [Conformal geometry of surfaces in \(S^4\) and quaternions. Berlin: Springer (2002; Zbl 1033.53001)]. The techniques used are generalizations of the usual techniques from submanifold theory, adapted to the setting in a natural way. For instance, the decomposition \(TM|_N\cong TN\oplus T^\perp N\) and a choice of quaternionic connection on \(TM\) yield a second fundamental form, which can be decomposed further into its \((2,0),(0,2)\)- and \((1,1)\)-part with respect to the complex structure \(I\). A further key element is a nice, concrete description of \(\mathbb H\mathrm P^n\), its quaternionic structure and the quaternionic connections on \(T\mathbb H\mathrm P^n\). Defining \(\mathcal S=\{S\in \operatorname{End}\mathbb H^{n+1}\mid S^2=-\mathrm{id}_{\mathbb H^{n+1}}\}\), the author uses these ingredients to associate to any immersed, half-dimensional, transversally complex submanifold \(M\subset\mathbb H\mathrm P^n\) a map \(M\to \mathcal S\) with nice properties, called the Gauss map. It is shown how certain properties of the immersion are encoded by its Gauss map. As an application, a sufficient criterion is given for such an immersed submanifold to be (an open submanifold of) a copy of \(\mathbb C\mathrm{P}^n\), embedded in a simple way in \(\mathbb H\mathrm P^n\). \par